Following the observation that TIGIT, a known checkpoint receptor on T cells, was upregulated on intratumoral NK cells in colon cancer patients, Zhang et al. found that TIGIT upregulation in mice was associated with NK cell exhaustion and tumor progression. Genetic TIGIT deficiency or antibody blockade alleviated NK cell exhaustion, slowed tumor growth independent of adaptive immunity, and generated long-term memory. Interestingly, TIGIT blockade enhanced T cell immunity in an NK cell-dependent manner, and mono- or combination therapies with anti-TIGIT and/or anti-PD-L1 were dependent on the presence of NK cells.
Checkpoint blockade enhances effector T cell function and has elicited long-term remission in a subset of patients with a broad spectrum of cancers. TIGIT is a checkpoint receptor thought to be involved in mediating T cell exhaustion in tumors; however, the relevance of TIGIT to the dysfunction of natural killer (NK) cells remains poorly understood. Here we found that TIGIT, but not the other checkpoint molecules CTLA-4 and PD-1, was associated with NK cell exhaustion in tumor-bearing mice and patients with colon cancer. Blockade of TIGIT prevented NK cell exhaustion and promoted NK cell-dependent tumor immunity in several tumor-bearing mouse models. Furthermore, blockade of TIGIT resulted in potent tumor-specific T cell immunity in an NK cell-dependent manner, enhanced therapy with antibody to the PD-1 ligand PD-L1 and sustained memory immunity in tumor re-challenge models. This work demonstrates that TIGIT constitutes a previously unappreciated checkpoint in NK cells and that targeting TIGIT alone or in combination with other checkpoint receptors is a promising anti-cancer therapeutic strategy.
Author Info: (1) Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Labor
Author Info: (1) Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. (2) Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. Shenzhen Laboratory of Fully Humanized Antibody Engineering, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China. (3) Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. (4) Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. (5) the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China. (6) the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China. (7) the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China. (8) the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China. (9) Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. (10) Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. (11) Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. sunr@ustc.edu.cn. Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. sunr@ustc.edu.cn. (12) Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. tzg@ustc.edu.cn. Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China. tzg@ustc.edu.cn.
